Register to vote

Page updated on: 14/12/2023

Make sure you have your say – use your right to vote. If you don’t you will lose your chance to influence the way things are run in the country. You can vote:

  • When you're 18 and have registered to vote (*in some cases 16 years of age).
  • If you are British, Irish, Commonwealth or European Union citizen.

Remember you can only vote at elections if your name appears in the Electoral Register. If you're not sure if you are registered to vote, complete our online form and we will check your details.

How do you register?

You can register to vote online or apply to the elections office for a form.

  • You can register at 16 years of age or over (*14 years of age in some cases), as the Electoral Register runs from 1st December to 30th November every year we need the dates of birth of persons just under 18 to make sure they are on the Register in time for them to vote. Although your name may appear on the Electoral Register before you are 18 you will not be allowed to vote until you are 18 (*16 in some cases).
  • You must be a British, Irish, Commonwealth or European Union citizen
  • It is a legal requirement to register to vote
  • It is not compulsory to vote
  • You must register annually
  • If you apply for credit, credit reference agencies can use the register to check your details and if you are not registered you may be refused credit.

A new law means 16 and 17 year olds, and qualifying Foreign Nationals living here in Wales can vote in Senedd and Local Government Elections as part of the biggest changes to the democratic process in Wales in half a century.  

Students

As a student, you can register at your term-time address and at your home address - so whether you're at university or at home, if you're registered, you can vote on election day. You can't vote twice in a UK Parliamentary, or Senedd election. But you can vote in local government elections at home and at your term-time address, as long as they are not in the same local government area.

What happens next?

The information we receive on the registration forms returned from each household is then transferred into a list and is called the Electoral Register.  The 2023 register was published and came into force on the 1st of December 2022. There are two variations of this register one is called the full register and the other is the open register.

The full register is everyone who is registered to vote.  It is used for elections and by certain organisations to check credit applications and to stop crime. The open register is some of the people who are registered to vote.  You can choose if you want to be on this register or not by ticking a box on the registration form that’s sent to your home.  Anyone can purchase this register and use it for whatever purpose. 

Register to vote  Check if you're registered to vote

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